


The Month of the Cicadas

by Chionee



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, Gen, M/M, Summer Vacation, how to delete the v-word, lads this is chill, the author is experimenting, we're here for a good time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 05:15:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 5,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19823302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chionee/pseuds/Chionee
Summary: That month felt like a ridiculously short day. Still, there are so many memories that have yet to be lived.Or, Zoro spent his summer at his uncle's dojo on a tiny island, not expecting to find himself a playmate that would change the month of July into a multitude of memories.





	1. The arrival

**Author's Note:**

> This is a weird concept, but I wanted to try writing a collection of really short chapters like it was a memories anthology, one for each day of the month of July.
> 
> I hope this is as pure as it felt in my head.

**July 1**

The sun was burning, and the song of the cicadas was deafening. It was driving Zoro crazy. Spending his summer on this lone, tiny island wasn't his choice. Not even a pleasant idea to think about. He was far from his friends, crashing at his uncle's dojo who, alongside his daughter, was the only person he was somewhat acquainted with here.

However, Kuina, his cousin, was older than him by a few years and didn't spend much time with him, hanging out with her own friends instead. Therefore, most of the time, Zoro was on his own. And it was utterly boring.

He didn't know if he would be able to survive to two whole months there.


	2. The exploration

**July 2**

A whole, albeit long day was all it took to explore the island in its entirety. There was a tiny wood that kept the air cool during the hottest hours of the day, and a ridiculously small beach that could still welcome all the inhabitants at once. The only negotiable road was an irregular loop circling the island, whose asphalt was old and crackled. The only good thing about it was that it connected every important location of the island between them. Like the dojo to the rest of this microscopic world.

Zoro found no one about his age. Kuina was the closest to a potential friend and even though he kinda liked his cousin, the thought was depressing.


	3. The boy

**July 3**

There was nothing to do at the dojo. Koushirou had told that he didn't give courses during the holidays. Therefore no one came. Zoro found it was stupid and asked to be taught kendo anyway, but after an hour of practice, the stifling heat of the atmosphere got the better of him, and Koushirou told him to rest. Zoro was having none of it, however, and he stormed out of the dojo, sweaty and out of breath, determined to find something to do on the island.

When he reached the dam, a small boat was docked to the only pontoon available on the island. On the deck, there was a gruff-looking man with weirdly braided mustaches. From where Zoro stood, it looked like he was giving orders around to men he hadn't seen the other day.

When he was about to turn around and continue on his way, a boy emerged from below the deck, holding a crate that was obviously too heavy for him.

Zoro guessed they were around the same age.


	4. The Name

**July 4**

Zoro wasn't the type to spy. Nevertheless, he tried to be discrete while observing the boy. He appeared to be living with the gruff man -his father, probably- who owned a seafood restaurant. Zoro thought it was a sucky place to run a business.

The boy helped around, but was getting yelled at here and there for stuff Zoro couldn’t understand from where he was standing. He wondered if he should get closer and announce his presence, but since the boy was busy, it would probably be a lost cause. So instead, Zoro continued to observe.

The restaurant was running well, he found out. It attracted all the local folks, to the point that the whole population of the island seemed to be gathered there. The boy acted like a grown man, which was making men laugh, women smile with amusement and Zoro roll his eyes.

At the end of the day, at the closure of the restaurant, the street was cleared of the locals and calm enough for Zoro to catch the name of the boy from the mustaches guy.

It was Sanji.


	5. The crab

**July 5**

Zoro had decided to get up early to run around the island while the air was still breathable, like the adults who wanted to stay in shape. When he reached the ridiculous beach, the boy -Sanji- was here. His footsteps, despite being quiet, didn't go unnoticed and the boy turned to watch him. He was holding a crab in his hands like the animal wasn't capable of crushing the bones of his fingers in its claws.

Zoro eyed the crab warily and then the boy. He was closer to him than he was the day before. His eyes were infuriatingly blue, he noted.

Without a word, Sanji handed him the crab and since he wasn't a coward, he reached out to take it. The crab pinched him before he could grab it and the blond laughed his ass off while Zoro was nursing his injured hands, the pain making him dance and his eyes throwing daggers at the boy.

That day, Zoro found out they were the same age. He also noticed the boy was wearing mustard yellow crocs but decided to keep his thoughts to himself.


	6. The new friend

**July 6**

Sanji lived on the island all year round. He only left for a few days straight at most to make stocks with his father on other islands. He also helped at the restaurant, but Zoro already knew that. Sanji asked him why he was there and Zoro talked about his uncle and the dojo and how his father didn't really give him a choice.

"That sucks," the blond said.

With closer inspection, Zoro noticed he had a near unnoticeable tooth gape and freckles on his nose. He was taller than him by a few centimeters and band-aids were hiding his knees.

"Well, you're the first person my age I see here," he added. "That's cool. The old fucks always treat me like a baby."

"You're a baby," Zoro taunted childishly.

"Then what does that make you?!"

"I'm older than you!"

"Only by a few months!"

He was red in the face, annoyed and annoying. Zoro liked him well.


	7. The run

**July 7**

Knowing someone his age was making Zoro’s summer much better. He insisted to practice kendo with his uncle early in the morning so he could spend the day hanging out with Sanji when he didn’t help at the restaurant. Despite his reluctance, Koushirou agreed to teach him the ways of swordsmen so he didn’t train himself alone.

By the time the sun was high in the sky and the heat weighing on everyone’s shoulders, Zoro was rushing down the road, eager to join his newfound friend.

“Eew,” was the first thing Sanji said when he saw him in front of the restaurant, his face crunching in a grimace Zoro would find funny in another context. “Did you run all the way from the dojo? You’re all sweaty. That’s gross.”

He was asking for it, so Zoro jumped on him.


	8. The gruff man

**July 8**

“So, your name is Zoro?” The gruff man asked, to what Zoro nodded. “Koushirou’s nephew? That geezer did tell me he had a kid coming over for the summer. So that’s you.” Zoro nodded again. “My name is Zeff, and you already know that little shit.” He waved towards Sanji who stuck his tongue to him.

He felt somewhat intimidated by Sanji’s father. He was taller and bigger than his uncle and it made the boy feel small. But he sat straight on his stool, head held high, eyes fixed on the gruff man.

“Well, Zoro, that’s great having you around. Thanks to you the little eggplant won’t be in my way all goddamn day.”

The outraged exclamation Sanji shouted went ignored. Zoro eyed him and seeing how red his cheeks were tainted with red fury, he quickly averted his eyes, lips bitten hard to contain the laughter that menaced to burst out involuntary.

“Now get out of here!” demanded Zeff, shooing them out of his place. “Go play outside and don’t bother me. I have a restaurant to run.”

Outside, Zoro took a deep breath to suppress his hilarity and looked at Sanji who was pouting like a five-year-old.

“So… Eggplant.”

The way Sanji’s face got even redder was priceless.

“I’m gonna kill you, grass hair!”

Zoro couldn’t hold his laugh this time.


	9. The scampi

**July 9**

“Lobster,” Zoro guessed, looking at squirming critters in their crate.

“Scampi, to be exact.”

“I don’t see why it’s different.”

Sanji rolled his eyes. He got his unnerving attitude when they talk about seafood that made Zoro feel like he was stupid. Which he was not.

“What’s that?” Sanji pointed to a Shiba sleeping a few meters away from them, in the shadow of a courtyard.

Zoro eyed him like he had lost his mind. “A dog, obviously.”

“Why not a cat?”

“Because it’s a freackin’ dog, you moron.”

Sanji kicked him in the shin and Zoro hissed. “See? That’s exactly the same with seafood. It’s a _freakin’ scampi, you moron.”_

Zoro tsk-ed but didn’t bother responding. Sanji explained the difference between lobsters and scampi, and Zoro never got them mixed up again.


	10. The watermelon

**July 10**

Zoro bit into the large slice of watermelon he had cut himself. Sanji eyed him, scrunching his face when some seeds remained glued to his cheeks, the juice sliding down his chin in sticky rivulets. He didn’t say it, but he knew that look. It was saying _disgusting_.

Zoro spat the seeds he hadn’t swallowed in Sanji’s direction, and some hit him right in the face. His expression morphed into pure aversion and Zoro burst out laughing, coughing on his food until he fell on the ground, tears welling up in his eyes. 

“This is karma,” Sanji snickered, still helping Zoro back in a sitting position, slapping his back to help hi. cough the remaining food up.

“Your face was worth it,” Zoro wheezed when his voice came back, wiping the tears off his eyes.

“My face is worth you nearly dying over watermelon?” Sanji raised a prying eyebrow.

“You should have seen yourself. Priceless.”

Sanji shook his head in visible despair and kicked him lightly for good measure.

Zoro decided to call that face Mister Repugnance.


	11. The mermaid

**July 11**

An abrupt splash that slapped him across the face started him awake.

“Wake up, sleepyhead!”

Zoro gasped and tried to sit up but something was kipping him stuck on the ground.

“What the heck?!” He stuttered, coughing a bit of water. “You crazy motherfucker! What’s wrong with you?!”

Sanji smirked down at him, arms crossed over his chest. He looked awfully proud of himself.

“I was just making sure you don’t get a sunstroke,” he said in a singsong voice.

“Bullshit.” Zoro tried to sit up again and as he didn’t succeed, he realized he was buried under the sand. “Hey, what’s that?”

“Just my artistic talent.”

Zoro stared at him suspiciously and noticed the picture he was holding in his hand; a Polaroid shot certainly coming from the device hanging around his neck.

“What about that.”

Sanji just grinned and squatted to stick the picture on the sand above him, the colored face mocking Zoro. It was a picture of him lying on the ground, under what looked like a mermaid statue made of sand.

“You’re gonna pay for this,” he promised as Sanji went on his way, laughing at Zoro.


	12. The bugs

**July 12**

Sanji was afraid of bugs.

It was one of these days when Zeff succeeded in kicking Sanji out of the restaurant to “live a boy’s life”. The temperature was one of the hottest of the week, and they naturally found themselves orbiting around the small wood, where the air was cooler. 

The leaves were providing a good shadow to hide under. The song of the cicadas was loud and the only thing that went louder was Sanji’s scream when a hairy caterpillar fell on his shoulder. He got petrified as though Medusa had cursed him, and the color drained from his face, leaving him unable to form any kind of sound, let alone a proper sentence. 

Zoro had to take the caterpillar off himself before Sanji allowed himself to breathe again. 

And so, Zoro discovered Sanji was afraid of bugs. 


	13. The sunburn

**July 13**

“Karma,” Zoro snickered.

Sanji gave him the stink eye, but his face, as red as a cooked lobster, was hilarious. Zeff shook his head and handed his son the tube of cream and he busied himself covering the sunburns on his arms.

“How many times will I have to tell you to watch your skin, little eggplant?” Zeff scolded. “Just because you were starting to tan doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful.”

“I know,” Sanji grumbled.

The boy’s usual fair skin was a furious red hue under the white cream. Sanji was forbidden to go outside until the worst of it faded and was not to help in the restaurant either, which was making the boy really moody.

Zoro wondered if the sunburns were painful. With the way Sanji yawned from time to time, he guessed last night might not have been a relaxing one.

Picking up the Polaroid camera he had spotted on the counter earlier, he quickly snapped a shot before Sanji noticed what he was up to and smirked at his friend’s bewildered expression when he realized what had happened.

“ _You assho_ -”

“No swearing!” Zeff cut in.

Zoro collected the picture and watched the colors appear slowly. He would keep that shot forever.


	14. The nap

**July 14**

Since Sanji couldn’t stay outside, they had to find something to do inside. Zoro discovered Sanji’s room, which was perfectly common. He didn’t expect to find anything in particular anyway. Perhaps a scampi plushie.

Despite Sanji’s insistence on finding a game to play, however, it was obvious the boy craved some peaceful rest. The sunburns hadn’t started fading yet and his sleep time was clearly disturbed.

Sanji found a deck of cards sitting on a shelf and Zoro reluctantly agreed to play a few games. Not even a few minutes later, Sanji was nodding off, head bobbing up and down as he tried to fight the slumber, but not to avail.

When he was sure his friend wouldn’t wake up anytime soon, Zoro let himself be tempted by a nap as well. When he woke up later that day, he had some of Sanji’s cream smeared on his cheek.


	15. The jackpot

**July 15**

Sanji was looking a bit better, but his father didn’t lift the ban nonetheless. They spent the afternoon in the basement adjoining the storage room of the restaurant, digging into old cardboard boxes until they found interesting stuff.

“Look!” Sanji called from a corner of the room. “These are walkies-talkies!”

Zoro joined him and looked over his shoulder. “Not sure if they’re still working.”

Sanji tried a few buttons, but the screens didn’t show anything. “Low battery, I guess.”

He flipped the device over, uncapping it to reveal the empty slot where the battery should be.

“Let’s ask your father later,” Zoro suggested, kneeling next to Sanji to get a look inside of the box from were the walkies-talkies came from.

“Wow!” He gasped, scooping a squared blue plastic box up. “That’s a GameCube!”

Checking the cardboard box again, he discovered a pair of controllers and a pile of video games stored neatly inside.

Jackpot.


	16. The video game

**July 16**

Mario Kart was a classic, which was the reason why they immediately agreed to launch that game first when Zeff eventually succeeded in plugging all the right cables to the TV. That, and the fact that they both assured the other they were the best at it. So they had to find out who would destroy the other.

The thing was that not even halfway through the first race, Zoro suspected there was a problem with the game.

“It’s always telling me I’m going the wrong way! This game is obviously broken.”

Sanji, after mocking him for not knowing his left and his right, tried to explain which way he had to go, without success.

“Oh my god, how are you doing that?” Sanji snickered. “That’s getting ridiculous. How can you _not_ know how to play at Mario Kart? Didn’t you said you were the best at it?”

“ _Shut your mouth._ ”

Sanji laughed so hard he hit his head on the wall behind him but even that didn’t stop his hilarity. Meanwhile, Zoro was hesitating between disappearing into the ground and fighting the other boy.

He ended up in the last place, but it wasn’t a surprise.


	17. The freckles

**July 17**

The redness of Sanji’s skin was finally starting to fade, and he was allowed to go out with a good amount of sunscreen on, and not during the hottest hours of the day. He still seemed happy to spend some time outside, far from ‘the old fart’ and ‘his stupids orders’. The sunburns were leaving impressive tan marks on the zones his tan-top had been covering his body the other day and he looked almost as bronzed as Zoro. 

What Zoro hadn’t been expecting were the extra freckles that had bloomed on the blond’s face. Where they were discrete before, they were now more numerous and darker, spreading on his cheeks and temples and vanishing in his airline. 

Zoro didn’t know why he was so absorbed in this discovery, but he couldn’t get his eyes off them the whole evening they spent on the dock.

“What? I have something on my face?” Sanji had asked at some point. “Stop staring.”

“You look like someone had splattered paint on your face.”

Sanji had kicked him in the shin, but Zoro hadn't stopped starring regardless. 


	18. The storm

**July 18**

The storm was as impressive as it was impromptu. Zoro had been told no to go outside until the rain calmed in intensity but it seemed like the weather would not improve any time soon.

Since he had nothing better to do after his everyday kendo lesson, he started fiddling with the walkie-talkie Sanji had entrusted him with after they had figured out what battery was necessary for them to operate. They hadn’t had the occasion to use them yet, so it was a good moment to run a test.

“Sanji, do you copy?” He tried.

He waited a few seconds. Only a low sizzle answered his call.

“Sanji, do you copy?” He repeated.

A few moments pass but again, the blond wasn’t answering.

“Hey curly brow, do you co-”

“What did you just call me, moss head?!” Suddenly came Sanji’s high-pitched voice through the walkie-talkie.

“Wha- what did _you_ just call me?!”

Well, at least the walkies-talkies worked.


	19. The walkies-talkies

**July 19**

“Moss head, do you copy?”

“If you want me to come kick your ass you just have to say it, curly brow,” Zoro grumbled, rolling on his back with the walkie-talkie near his ear.

“You have to answer ‘This is moss head, I copy’, you know?” Sanji said, ignoring Zoro’s last comment.

“Whatever,” the other sighed.

The communication went silent for a little while as neither of them knew what to talk about. Everything seemed much easier, much better when they were face to face.

“This sucks. I hope the storm stops soon.”

Zoro couldn’t disagree with that.


	20. The puddle

**July 20**

Luckily for them, the worst of the storm was behind them the next day. Clouds were still obscuring the sky and it could still rain anytime, but they were allowed to go out.

The change of weather had cooled the atmosphere, silencing the cicadas. Puddles of rainwater had formed during the two past days of downpour. Flora flourished anew where the episode of near-drought had dried the plants out.

When Zoro reached Zeff’s restaurant, an umbrella he had judged unnecessary under the arm, Sanji got out wearing a yellow raincoat and matching wellies.

“Well, aren’t you cute, curly brow.”

Sanji jumped straight into the nearest puddle, drowning Zoro in mucky water, effectively shutting him up.

“Come again, mud boy?”

Zoro thought it was a petty revenge. The umbrella could have been used after all.


	21. The cold

**July 21**

Zoro sneezed, making Kuina, who was next to him, shake her head with monotony.

“Tell me again how you managed to catch a cold in the middle of July?” She asked absentmindedly.

He stuck his tongue to her and give his middle finger to Sanji whose ear-to-ear grin was starting to get on his nerves.

Koushirou chuckled at the little scene, ruffling Zoro’s hair upon walking past him.

“It’s actually quite an exploit to get Zoro sick. Your father told me you have a really good immune system.”

“ _And id’s drue!_ ”

“Well, I guess there’s a first time to everything,” his uncle laughed.

Sanji made a horrible impersonation of Zoro’s stuffy nose that made everyone giggle expect the concerned one.


	22. The restaurant

**July 22**

“Ah, Koushirou! You bastard finally decided to show up. I was wondering when I’d see your ugly face.”

Zeff patted Zoro’s uncle’s back, pushing him further into the restaurant, Zoro and Kuina following them. They were seated at a booth situated against a wall, a window overhanging the table. The sun was still high in the sky, the heat not quite gone and Zoro still sick.

“Looks like a really itchy nose,” came an irritable voice behind Zoro’s shoulder.

He pinched Sanji’s cheek a bit harder than intended.

“Go back to the kitchens if you wanna make yourself useful, eggplant,” scolded Zeff.

“Stop calling me that already!” The boy complained, nursing his reddening cheek and sending a murderous stare in Zoro’s direction who just smirked in malicious triumph.

He didn’t see Sanji from the rest of the evening, but the food wasn’t half bad.


	23. The dishwasher

**July 23**

When he asked if he could join Sanji on whatever he would be doing in the kitchens, he received of firm no from Zeff. Which was comprehensible. But it was the end of the shift and the restaurant was calm and he figured he could insist.

“I don’t want your nasty germs all over my workspace. It’s still no.”

“But I’m already better! I don’t even sneeze anymore!"

Zeff’s eyebrow twitched. “ _No_.”

Zoro mentally cursed the gruff man. Still, instead of being able to come inside the kitchens, Sanji was pushed out of it a few moments later.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Zeff said grumpily. “That salad boy was annoyingly insistent. _You_ spend time with him as any ten-year-old would. I need my peace.”

If looks could kill… Nah, Sanji wasn’t even scary with the oversized pink plastic gloves he was still wearing.

“Dishwasher’s mad?” Zoro taunted.

The slap of the glove hurt surprisingly more than anticipated.


	24. The sleepover

**July 24**

The first pillow was avoided. The second one, which had been flung just after, crashed directly into Sanji’s face, making him fall back with the strength of the blow.

“Hehe,” Zoro smirked.

His success didn’t last long since Sanji was quickly back on his feet, sprinting in his direction with a battle scream, another pillow held above his head, ready to strike. Zoro couldn’t dodge the attack in time and was tackled head-on. Both boys collapsed, their fall cushioned by the pillows all over them.

“Boys! It’s time to go to bed!” Koushirou’s voice announced from behind the sliding doors.

“What? No!” Sanji complained.

“Not this soon!” Zoro added, extracting himself from under the pillows.

“It’s already past your bedtime. End of discussion.”

Both complaints went ignored and the boys were left on their own. Looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes, they silently agreed to resume their shenanigans without Zoro’s uncle knowing.

Both seized the nearest pillow, griping firmly the fabric and gauged the opponent before striking. Zoro’s pillow hit Sanji full force while the other crashed against the wall with a thud.

“What did I say?!” Koushirou yelled.

The boys looked at each other before bursting out laughing.


	25. The kendo lesson

**July 25**

Koushirou’s wooden sword hit Zoro’s side, putting an end to the duel. The boy exhaled shakily and lowered his training sword, trying to control the pain of the last blow and refrain from clutching his throbbing side.

“You’ve improved since the very first lesson I taught you,” his uncle stated. “You’re a combative one.”

“I’m not strong yet,” Zoro grumbled. “I still can’t beat Kuina.”

“Kuina has been training for much longer than you have. It’s only normal.”

Zoro huffed but didn’t insist, letting Koushirou take his sword to store them.

“You don’t want to try kendo?” He asked, the question directed at Sanji who shrugged.

“I’m not really interested in swords,” he confessed.

“You want to become a chef like your father, right? Knives will be your kind of blades.”

Sanji nodded with enthusiasm and claimed, “That’s cooler than fake swords.”

“Hey!”

Sanji pulled out his lower lip at him while Zoro’s indignation was drowned in Koushirou’s laugh.


	26. The peach tree

**July 26**

There was a lonely peach tree at the higher spot of the island, near the small wood. Judging by its quite impressive height, it was likely to be old but still produced fruits during the summer. The local folks regularly collected them when the peaches were mature, but there were still a few ones scattered on the ground, half-eaten by animals and bugs.

The view available on top of the tree was striking, to say the least. But to get there, one ought to have some climbing skills themselves. Apparently, Sanji had no problem with that. He seemed to know all the branches to rest on and climbed the whole tree in less than a few minutes.

For Zoro, it was another story. He was not a bad climber by no mean, but he was not into that sort of sports, to begin with, which was making things more difficult for him. The fact that Sanji was throwing peach stones at him was not helping.

In the end, however, the view was, indeed, quite breathtaking.


	27. The sensastions

**July 27**

" _Sur la plage, dans le sable, je recherche des sensations_ ," Sanji hummed, eyes focused on the water at his feet that was making the wet sand cover his toes.

Zoro piqued a few rocks, studied them to keep the flattest one before discarding the others.

"What language is that?" He asked, flinging the rock towards the sea and watching it ricochet once before getting engulfed in a wave.

He made a face. Ricochets were definitely better on the calm water of a lac.

"It's French."

"You know French?" Zoro wondered, surprise evident on his face.

"I _am_ French," Sanji clarified.

"Oh,” he let out. “That's why you're blond."

"What does it have to do with anything?" The other laughed.

Zoro just shrugged, "There aren't many blond people around here."

"There aren't many people with green hair either," he said matter-of-factly. "Are you an alien?"

"Very funny," Zoro rolled his eyes. "What do the lyrics mean anyway?"

"On the beach, in the sand, I seek sensations."

"Sounds in tune with the place."

Sanji nodded firmly, a smile on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sur la planche, sur la vague, je ressens des sensations ~


	28. The duck

**July 28**

Too bad. It was too bad Sanji hadn’t brought the Polaroid camera with him today. Really, it was a shame. Zoro would have definitely taken a picture of the scene.

“Didn’t I tell you you’d pay for it?” He mocked.

Sanji’s eyes were throwing daggers at him from bellow. But, well, he really didn’t look frightening at all. Not with the sand duck that was covering his body from the neck below.

“You shouldn’t have fallen asleep,” he added, feeling smug enough to outbid himself.

“That’s really childish. Baby.”

“Baby yourself. I had warned you.”

“It was weeks ago! You only did that out of spite.”

“Maybe so,” Zoro shrugged.

He couldn’t help but be disappointed he didn’t have anything to immortalize the moment. That would’ve been glorious. Sanji was lucky he avoided another shameful picture of himself.


	29. The friends

**July 29**

“I have this friend, Luffy, who always gets in trouble over the stupidest stuff. It’s both hilarious and worrisome. Once he managed to sneak into the school’s cafeteria and to eat all the cakes before someone caught him. Dude got expelled for a week.”

“That can’t be real,” Sanji commented, voice filled with disbelief.

“Sure it is,” Zoro nodded. “I have this other friend, Usopp, who likes bugs. Big deal; you wouldn’t like that. Anyways, he once brought a box filled with scarabs in class and some douche dropped it on the ground. The bugs started flying around and everyone went batshit crazy. Usopp got expelled for that.”

Zoro stopped to look at Sanji, who shuddered in horror, and smirked. A meeting between Sanji and Usopp would genuinely be funny. Overall, he as certain his friends would like Sanji. Luffy would absolutely love to know his dad owns a restaurant.

Maybe they would be able to meet someday. Zoro would make sure of that.


	30. The introspection

**July 30**

In retrospective, Zoro really liked that month on the island. This was certainly due to his friendship with Sanji. The boy’s presence was making everything go faster, and Zoro wished time went more slowly for they had already spent a whole month of their vacation.

He even surprised himself by wishing he was living on the island. He missed his other friends, of course, but there was this special atmosphere on this small piece of land he didn’t want to leave now. Even though there wasn’t much to do, when they were together, Sanji and Zoro always found something new to try.

And even when they didn’t do anything, Zoro wasn’t bored. They would lie down for some time and stay quiet, examining the sky or the ceiling of whatever room they were in, listening to each other’s breathing.

Sometimes, they would fall asleep. Other times, Sanji would eventually come up with something.

“Do you know there will be a firework tomorrow night?”

“For real?”

“Yeah! We should watch it.”

“Definitely.”


	31. The firework

**July 31**

They met at the dojo before heading to the peach tree. The sun was long set, and it was only because they knew the island well Koushirou agreed to let them go alone. Luckily for them, the sky was clear and the moon was providing just enough light to see where they were going. The flashlights they had taken weren’t even necessary.

Climbing the tree was quickly done. They only needed to wait a bit before the show started. The firework was happening on another island further south but was visible from there, and the best place to watch it was obviously the highest point on the island.

When it finally started, the typically loud explosions associated with firework were distant and bearable, while the colorful bombs and rockets followed each other without any kind of pattern.

Zoro’s interest shifted from the spectacle to Sanji, who was absorbed into it. His eyes were shining with each detonation, wide with fascination. There was something in the way he looked at the horizon that was intriguing Zoro, and he suddenly couldn’t look away.

At some point, the flash of lights stopped, living them with the stars for only luminous source, and Sanji turned his head towards Zoro. Only then did he realize the firework had ended. Somehow, the ghost of the exploding rockets was still dancing in Sanji’s eyes.

“Come on, we have to get going,” the blond said, getting into motion.

It felt like the end of summer already, like the end of an age. A wave of unexpected melancholy hit Zoro and he wished they were back at the beginning of July. Tomorrow was August, another month of freedom; yet the last one.

“Tomorrow we should go diving!” suggested Sanji joyfully, turning around to get a look at Zoro, walking backward.

It put a smile on Zoro’s face, his little episode of sadness already forgotten.

Tomorrow was the beginning of the rest of the summer. It was still plenty of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *thinks hard about the childhood Sanji basically didn’t get and Zoro’s we have yet to fully know about* I have strong feelings about childhood friend zosan.
> 
> This is the end! Thank you so much for reading all these tiny chapters, I really hope you enjoyed this weird concept. I might do some kind of sequel if you guys are interested in it.
> 
> Kudos and comments are appreciated <3
> 
> You can check my [dumblr](https://chioneesglasses.tumblr.com/).


End file.
